For the love of horses

SERVING soldier Moi Watson rode and walked 100 miles in 100 days to raise £600 for a charity dedicated to improving the lives of working horses across the world.

Moi, who serves in the Royal Logistics Corps, covered the distance as part of Brooke’s #MyHackathon challenge and used the experience to help her recover from a back injury and aid horse Ses’ recuperation from strained hamstrings.

Together, Moi and 15-year-old mare Ses travelled around the local Wiltshire countryside and, despite some pain and wet weather, beat Brooke’s original fundraising target by £500.

She explained: “I had planned for us to just do some walking together, but then #MyHackathon came along. It gave us something to work towards and also gave something back to animals less fortunate than my own.”

As well as aiding Brookes, the event has also paid dividends for Moi and Ses’ health – the animal’s hamstrings have healed and Moi has noticed a dramatic improvement with her back pain.

#MyHackathon is part of Brooke’s How The Other Horse Lives campaign, which aims to raise awareness of the needs of working equines in developing countries by showing what they endure on a daily basis compared to well-kept horses here in the UK.

Moi said: “Brooke’s link to military horses attracted me in the first place because of my own military connections. Training and educating communities to care for their own animals is so important to ensure a sustainable improvement to the lives of these vulnerable animals.”